Haywire
by Emertheawesome
Summary: It figures it was Naru's presence that awakened her powers, and his absence that loosed them. A mini story told in mini chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **An extremely short story of drabbles. My first Ghost Hunt fic, and also unbeta-ed. Consider this a 'What if' curiosity quencher.

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After Naru and Lin leaves, it feels like a stopper has been pulled. Images flash before her eyes daily, nightly, hourly. She will be in her class working on a Japanese inscription when suddenly she is in the middle of a park, paying reverence to a small, decrepit shrine. She will making dinner and then she is seventy and making dinner for her grandchildren and she knows them and their likes, but their names elude her because her mind can't pick up.

Mai is losing herself, she knows this.

It figures that it was Naru's presence that wakened her powers and his absence that loosed them. She forgets the date regularly, the days of the week and the hours of the day. She continually misses class because she can no longer keep track. The calendar she bought to help is covered with meaningless scrawls informing her of non-existent children's birthdays, of a funeral, of the appointment next week at a place that doesn't exist.

She steals a sharpie from school and writes in blocky letters on her hand, "MAI TANIYAMA, 17 YRS OLD."

It helps to anchor her, but after a while it washes off and she doesn't remember to rewrite it.


	2. Chapter 2

Mai does not know the last time Takigawa visited her. To be honest, she's not even sure he is visiting her now. He sits across from her at her little table, long legs crossed Indian-style and studying her in a worried fashion.

"Mai-chan," he says, brow furrowing, "did you hear me?"

Mai shakes her head as though to clear it of fog. Wasn't she just walking her dog? No, wait, she doesn't have a dog.

"I-what, Bou-san?" she replies, blinking at her small apartment as though surprised she is there. "What were we talking about?"

"Mai-chan…."

He is looking at her calendar now. She feels lost and scared and confused. He's studying the birthdays.

"Who's Rin-chan?" he asks lightly.

"My daughter," Mai immediately responds, then blinks. "Wait…."

Takigawa is understandably surprised. He runs a shaking hand through his mussed blond hair. "You don't have a daughter."

"I do, I- No, I don't. You're right."

Takigawa takes his cell-phone from his pocket and begins to dial.

"Bou-san," Mai murmurs, and he pauses, "what day is it?"


	3. Chapter 3

She is surprised the first time she walks through a door, though she doesn't immediately notice, so caught up in her mind that she is.

She doesn't realize until she is standing in the kitchenette, blinking at the sink and turning to stare at the door that is not unlocked, and the keys that are still nestled securely in her book bag. The integral process of grabbing the handle, twisting, pushing and stepping through where there is nothing _tangible _had been skipped entirely, and it leaves Mai desperately running her hands over everything in the kitchen to ensure she is still solid.


	4. Chapter 4

She is only going to the corner store when she notices them. She needs rice because she ran out. She's not sure when, because her cupboards are empty and a thin layer of dust coats them, but she knows she needs rice. She wrote it in pen on her hand.

But she is distracted and nervous because the shadows are wiggling, crawling with eyes and hands and mouths. Children skip behind her gaily, giggling and whispering and very, very translucent. Something heavy and dark floats above her, raining blood and gnashing sharp teeth at her, occasionally sprouting body parts and sucking them back in again.

Mai doesn't stop walking, for she thinks surely they will get her then, but she does take out her cell-phone, dialing the number at the top of the list.

"Bou-san," she whispers, trying to hide the quiver in her voice. "They're here."

She doesn't know whether he knows what that means, but he somehow finds her, murmuring a mantra to keep the spirits away.

"I just don't understand," he murmurs, carrying the plastic sack of groceries that he insisted she buy. "I really don't."

Mai follows beside him, blinking at the sun and wondering why she has "RICE" written on her hand.


	5. Chapter 5

Masako is in her apartment, delicately drinking tea. Mai watches her, brows furrowed. Scribbled cursive sutra are stuck to every entrance of her apartment - every window and every door. Mai is not sure why, but Masako seems quite at home, though the homely surroundings are at jolting odds with her traditional dress.

"Masako-chan?" Mai asks curiously.

Masako glances up, a disdainful expression on her pretty face. "Ah, you're back."

Mai frowns. "I didn't go anywhere though."

The medium huffs and rolls her eyes. "You're gone all the time, Mai-san." She looks up at the clock, _tick-tick-ticking _against the far wall. "Ayako-san should be here soon."

"Why are you here?" Perhaps it is rude, but Mai is confused.

Masako just wrinkles her nose. "You always get all the attention, you know that?"

"But… I don't…."

"He'll be here soon," Masako says flatly. "Then you can be your old annoying self again."

Mai doesn't hear, because once again she is dreaming.


	6. Chapter 6

She is pulled from a picnic, one where she is surrounded by family. Children and grandchildren frolic beneath sakura trees, causing a ruckus, but too gleeful for her to scold them. Her husband's face, as usual, is misty and vague, though familiar in some sense.

And then she is in her apartment again, blinking rapidly at the SPR group reunited. They sit around her in a circle, faces concerned and expectant. Something warm fills her soul, because isn't this her family? Yes, yes.

And there in the center is Naru, studying her blankly, eyes slightly calculating and one hand resting on hers. She knows this is reality - not dream or vision or nightmare - because not once, not in any, has Naru been present.

"Naru," Mai whispers, "you're home."

He quirks an eyebrow. "Do you know the date?"

Mai sits up - she had been laying on the floor - and shakes her head. "I lost track."

"It's the fifth of June."

Mai nods, noticing that she is thirsty. Almost immediately John hands her a glass of water, clear and cool. She is self-conscious as she drinks because they are all watching her intently. A few minutes later she is done.

"What's the date today?" Naru asks her again.

Mai furrows her brow. "You _just _said that. Fifth of June."

A sigh seems to go around the room and Naru releases her hand. His lips twitch in something akin to a smile.

"Welcome back, Mai."


End file.
